Recognizing Oxford Michigan

Floor Speech

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Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the community of Oxford Michigan located in my district in Oakland County.

As everyone knows, last year on November 30, Oxford suffered the worst sort of tragedy when a student at the town's high school brought a gun to school and used it to shoot a teacher and 10 fellow students.

The community lost four beautiful, kind, talented and beloved young people that day: Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling, and Hana St. Juliana. I had the honor of attending the funerals for Justin and Hana and the visitation for Madisyn, and witnessing the outpouring of love for them from hundreds and hundreds in their community was inspiring.

The United States, unfortunately, has seen many of these shooting in the past 25 years but nothing prepares a community for being the one where it happens. In Oxford, the wounded from that terrible day extends far beyond the teacher and six students who were shot. The entire community has suffered a devastating and life-changing trauma.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about what that means and what I hope we will do to support the people of Oxford and its neighboring communities in the months and years ahead, because it will take years to heal.

First, I want to share with you some of the stories from Oxford from the last 2 months. In the aftermath of the shooting, the community was determined to be ``Oxford Strong.'' The people I have met and sat with and listened to in the past couple of months have made it clear that ``Oxford Strong'' isn't just a catchphrase.

Strong, in Oxford, is about compassion, about caring about asking for help when you need it, and finding a way to help your neighbors even if it comes at a real cost to yourself.

To our local small businesses, which, in the days after the shooting, went to great lengths and great expense to provide families with support and a safe haven. It started with the local Meijer, which closed the day of the shooting to provide a gathering place for students fleeing the building. Meijer had partnered with Oxford schools to be part of their emergency evacuation plan so students knew exactly where to go when the building became unsafe.

By the next day, Sick Pizza had offered to donate 100 percent of their proceeds from pizza sales over several days to victims' families. Owner Scott Taylor hoped to raise about $25,000. Instead, his restaurant raised four times that amount.

Oxford Bank sprang into action offering to collect donations for the victims so that the community would have a trusted, central location to direct its generosity. To date, more than $1.6 million has poured in and the bank has enlisted the National Compassion Fund to ensure it is distributed thoughtfully, fairly, and transparently.

And though I am only scratching the surface of the local business community's generosity, I would be remiss not to mention Legacy Center and its many tenant businesses which offered services entirely for free for several days and became a community gathering spot for grieving teens throughout December.

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, the Legacy Center provided a space for my staff and I to meet with a group of Oxford parents and educators for a listening session. They continue to be true partners to people of Oxford.

For the remarkable contributions made by our local small businesses in the wake of this tragedy, I read the statement into the people's House so that it may be remembered in perpetuity.

To our elected local leaders, we find out what people are made of in difficult times. Local Oxford Village President Joe Madore, Oxford Township President Jack Curtis, and Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett, you responded immediately to the crisis facing your community working tireless in the shooting's aftermath to provide anything and everything you could, from meals for students returning to school because all the stored food had perished, to clear backpacks to enhance security.

Jack Curtis opened the township doors to me personally, giving me space to conduct a virtual townhall meeting. Your helpers were too many to count, but their actions in those initial days will never be forgotten.

For the remarkable contributions made by our local leaders in the wake of this tragedy I read the statement into the people's House so that it may be remembered in perpetuity.

To the first responders, though the story of the Oxford shooting is, of course, a horrific one, one part of the story has brought many families and the larger community comfort, and that was your incredible actions on that day. More than 30 agencies responded to the school that day from all levels of government, many arriving little more than moments after the 911 calls began. You were incredibly brave, and your expertly coordinated effort, we know, undoubtedly saved lives.

During the time I spent in Oxford, I have had the honor of meeting with many of you, starting with Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and Deputy Sheriff Mike McCabe, who just retired. I also met Oxford Police Chief Mike Solwold who started his career as a school liaison officer in Oxford and who worked literally nonstop in the shooting's aftermath; and Oxford Fire Chief Peter Scholz and Lieutenant Mike Majestic who, despite the grief of witnessing the death of young people whom they had known for years, kept showing up to serve their beloved community, including working as valuable partners at emergency management planning meetings every week to address public safety, mental health, funding, and other needs for the schools and surrounding communities.

I spoke with Lake Orion Police Chief Harold Rossman and Lieutenant Todd Stanfield who helped secure the building and who tried desperately to save one of the victims, and who spoke eloquently of the impact limited mental health services have on the community. And I met with Orion Township Fire Rescue Department led by Chief Robert Duke who also responded to the scene and who, like many of their colleagues, pressed on in the days after in the face of their own grief with little respite.

At the funeral for Hana St. Juliana I sat with Lieutenant Gregory Glover and Detective Sergeant Richard Hubble, both of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, whose mere presence was a comfort to me personally and to so many others on that incredibly sad night.

I had the chance to see them again during a recent visit to town. Both men were among the first to enter the building along with Deputy John MacDonald, who put Tate Myre in his vehicle in a heroic effort to save him.

Down the street from the sheriff's substation is the Brandon Township Fire Department which I visited at the invitation of Lieutenant Doug Brice. He and his fellow firefighters entered the building directly behind law enforcement and did everything they could to aid the wounded.

All of these men, like so many others on that day, stayed focused and calm in the face of real terror, and by doing so not only saved lives but provided comfort to terrified students who, no doubt, will forever view first responders differently, having been so well protected and shepherded to safety when they needed it most.

For the remarkable bravery displayed by our first responders in the wake of this tragedy, I read the statement into the people's House so that it may be remembered in perpetuity.

To the parents and students of Oxford, I want to recognize you most of all. I have met with many of you in recent weeks, sometimes in hours-long sessions, to hear how you are doing and what you need most. And it is clear what you need from the rest of us is to listen. I have heard from parents whose children are worried they will fall behind in school if they don't attend, but who find going to class in the same building where they fled bullets and friends were hurt or killed just a few weeks ago to be hard to tolerate.

I have heard from students who now wince at loud sounds and get overwhelmed by crowds, who are worried about their friends and themselves and who feel overlooked. Many have told me they badly want to get the mental health support that they need but their parents can't afford a therapist and they are tired of telling and retelling their story of the crisis.

The fact is, everyone in Oxford has post-traumatic stress. Everyone. There is no escaping the impact of this immense and overwhelming tragedy. But I want you to know that post-traumatic stress does not have to become post-traumatic stress disorder. With proper support, traumatized people can recover. You may never be exactly the same as you once were, but you can discover new reserves of strength and renewed appreciation for life and for your loved ones.

Psychologists have a term for this. It is called post-traumatic stress growth. It is a theory that holds that people who endure intense trauma can see positive growth come from their desperate struggle.

But that doesn't happen overnight, and it doesn't happen without a lot of hard work and help. The people of Oxford, though incredibly resilient in the face of staggering loss, need our support. ``Oxford Strong'' does not mean Oxford can or should do it alone. I have heard from teachers who tell me they can't possibly provide the mental health support that some of their students need.

Schools have precious few social workers on staff and troubled students have effectively nowhere to go in a State with fewer than 300 psychiatric beds in the entire State, all of which have long waiting lists. So kids with serious emotional and behavioral issues often must stay in class with little support, causing challenges for their peers and unable to get the intervention they so badly need.

I have heard from nearly everyone that we need to make sure at the very least that we keep guns out of the hands of our kids. The shooting at Oxford High School made it very clear that we have a serious, systemic problem to solve. But in the meantime, the least we can do is ensure that kids don't have access to guns. I am not talking about families who teach their kids how to hunt, which in Michigan is very common. I grew up in a gun-owning household. I am talking about leaving a deadly weapon unsecured. We must do everything we can to keep our kids safe, and that is one easy and crucial step we can take.

I wasn't able to be in Oxford last Friday night. The Michigan High School Athletic Association organized an Oxford Strong night and across the State. Teams playing their Friday night games showed their support and love for the people of Oxford. The MHSAA raised $200,000 for the victims and their families with its effort. That kind of ongoing love and support is so heartening to see. I am standing here today asking all of us to continue to hold Oxford in our hearts, and to do the hard work necessary to ensure its people get the resources they need to recover, and to ensure no other community suffers such a needless and devastating event.

It is the honor of my life to represent the people of Oxford in the U.S. House of Representatives and to be able to speak their stories of resilience into the permanent record of the people's House.

In the face of unimaginable adversity, you have shown us a path forward on the road to recovery.

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